Dark Side of the Ring: 10 Stories We Want to See in Season 3

Known to wrestling fans worldwide as Mr. Perfect, Curt Hennig will always be considered one of the most talented performers to ever lace up a pair of boots. As his moniker would suggest, Hennig appeared to be flawless with everything that he did. In AWA, WWF/WWE, and WCW, Hennig was a legend in the ring, and if he were still around, chances are he’d still be very involved in the business today.

In 2002, after spending several years working for competitors, Hennig returned home to WWE to wrestle as Mr. Perfect for one last go. Although he had a very impressive performance when he returned for that year’s Royal Rumble match, Hennig would find himself fired from the company just a few months later. The dismissal came as a result of scuffling with Brock Lesnar on the infamous “Plane Ride from Hell” (which also deserves a separate episode of its own, really). One of them had to go, and it wasn’t going to be Lesnar, whom the company had considered to be one of its biggest stars.

Just over a year after his firing, Hennig had been wrestling for independent promotions when he was found dead in his hotel room in 2003. Reportedly, his death was due to acute cocaine intoxication. Leaving behind four children, Hennig was just 44 years old at the time of his death. May things have gone differently had Hennig stayed with the world’s top promotion the year before? We’ll never know for sure.

One of the most popular wrestling tag teams from the 1980’s would be the British Bulldogs. Consisting of the Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith, the team competed in multiple promotions during their prime, and that includes a run in WWE. The partnership came to an end in 1990 when Dynamite and Smith had a falling out, leading to Smith returning to WWE solo and taking the “British Bulldog” name along with him.

After disbanding the tag team and feeling the pain of his real-life injuries, Dynamite retired in 1991, though he made sporadic wrestling appearances over the next few years. By 1997, the wrestling star was wheelchair-bound, and based on the bad blood with Smith and WWE, he never formally returned to the company for any kind of special appearance. Tom “Dynamite Kid” Billington would later die on his 60th birthday in 2018.

Things didn’t turn out much better for Davey Boy Smith, either. During a stint in WCW, Smith had landed awkwardly on a hidden trapdoor beneath the mat of the ring, causing a severe back injury. The incident left him nearly paralyzed and fueled a dangerous addiction to painkillers. A few years later, Smith died of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 39.

Classic wrestler Adrian Adonis is among the most memorable wrestling villains of the mid ’80s, competing for the World Wrestling Federation under the management of Jimmy Hart. Originally entering the business with the gimmick of a masculine bruiser, Adonis adopted the “Adorable” moniker during his time in WWF (now WWE), bleaching his hair and donning pink wrestling tights. During his run, Adonis had even competed against Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

In 1987, Adonis was fired by WWF for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. Still, his career wasn’t slowing down, as Adonis continued to wrestle as “Adorable” Adrian in AWA and New Japan Pro Wrestling. In one of his last matches, Adonis had even competed as part of a team with the late, great Owen Hart — who would go on to be the subject of a heartbreaking Dark Side of the Ring story of his own.

On the 4th of July in 1988, Adonis was traveling in a minivan with three other wrestlers to their next stop when a moose is said to have ventured onto the road. Swerving to miss the animal, the vehicle fell from a bridge into a creek, severely injuring all four occupants. Only the driver, William “Mike Kelly” Arko, survived the crash. Adonis left behind a wife and two daughters.

Scott Hall, also known to some longtime WWE fans as Razor Ramon, is considered by many fans to be one of the greatest wrestling superstars to never hold the world title. While he certainly had the talent and charisma to be a top star, Hall’s real-life substance and alcohol abuse issues outside of the ring was constantly derailing his career, and it’s well documented that the wrestler has had many, many stints in rehab.

During the height of Hall’s fame in WCW, the wrestler has been arrested multiple times for drunk and disorderly conduct. His wife, Dana, had even pleaded with the brass at WCW to get him some help. Instead, WCW’s writers turned Hall’s real-life struggles into a storyline, literally having the wrestler pretending to be drunk on television. He was even told to feign intoxication while wrestling in his matches after walking to the ring sipping on a beer. Chances are, the storylines did little to aid Hall with his genuine alcoholism.

For what it’s worth, WWE has offered Hall plenty of help over the years, seemingly much more so than what happened with WCW. In an ESPN documentary about Hall, WWE’s Stephanie McMahon says the company has spent a six-figure dollar amount on Hall’s rehab stints, claiming they’ve spent more on trying to get him help than any other wrestler. “I just want Scott to get help and decide for himself that he needs help. It makes me sad,” Stephanie said on the program.

There’s a reason Chyna’s nickname was the Ninth Wonder of the World (with Andre the Giant serving as the eighth, according to WWE). When she entered WWF as a part of D-Generation X, the business had never seen a female performer that was quite like her. It wasn’t long before she branched out as a big star on her own, dominating both men and women in the wrestling ring.

While working for WWE, Chyna had been romantically involved with fellow wrestler Triple H for years. That all changed when Triple H began a television storyline that saw him romancing Vince McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie McMahon. Life imitated art, and real feelings would blossom between the two. According to Chyna in later interviews, things came to a head when she discovered evidence that Triple H and Stephanie had been having an affair.

Ultimately, emotions were too high for Chyna to remain with the company for long after her boyfriend left her for their boss’s daughter. She’d leave WWE soon after and was essentially blacklisted, never again mentioned on WWE programming until after her death in 2016. In the years before, Chyna had been pleading for WWE to induct her into the Hall of Fame, or to at least bring her back for a special appearance.

After Wrestlemania VI, it began to look like Hulkamania was going by the wayside, as the Ultimate Warrior was set to take over as the top star of the World Wrestling Federation. Built like a Herculean statue with radical face paint and colorful streamers and tights, the Ultimate Warrior was far unlike any other wrestler to come before or after, remaining one of the most popular performers in WWF/WWE history.

Like many wrestlers, the Warrior’s real-life issues with WWE are also pretty well known. After a major falling out with Vince McMahon, the Warrior had trashed WWE publicly for years. There was no love lost on either side, as WWE responded by releasing an entire DVD set called The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, filled with interviews of wrestling personalities criticizing the wrestler inside and outside of the ring.

Following many years of bad blood, the Ultimate Warrior and WWE finally buried the hatchet, and the Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, 2014. The next day, on April 6, he appeared on Raw for the first time in nearly 18 years to deliver a special promo for the fans in attendance. Two days later, on April 8, the Ultimate Warrior died after suffering a massive heart attack at the age of 54.

Originally an NFL football star, Darren Drozdov was known for his “chronic vomiting” and the ability to supposedly vomit on command. He was featured in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat with his entrance into WWE captured on camera, as Vince McMahon was really impressed with his unique talents. Dubbing him “Puke,” McMahon brought in Drozdov to become the third partner of the Legion of Doom with Hawk and Animal.

After later breaking away from the LOD, Drozdov, going by Droz, was often competing in solo wrestling matches. For a time, he would even have his own televised skits called Droz’s World and had begun to form his own stable with Prince Albert and Vic “Key” Grimes. In 1999, he was listed at #142 on Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s list of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500.

During a WWF Smackdown! taping in 1999, Droz and D’Lo Brown were competing in a singles match. In what was intended to lead to the end of the match, Brown picked up Droz to perform a running powerbomb maneuver. Unfortunately, the move was botched, and Droz fractured his neck after landing on his head. The injury left him a quadriplegic, and although he’s since regained some movement in his upper body, he requires 24-hour care.

Owner of the American Wrestling Assocation (AWA), Vern Gagne helped to develop many of pro wrestling’s most famous competitors of all time. Before making their way to WWF/WWE, AWA had seen the likes of major players first becoming stars in the Minneapolis-based promotion. This includes Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Curt Hennig, and Rick Rude, among many others.

Because there was ultimately no competing with the juggernaut that the World Wrestling Federation had become by the late ’80s, Gagne shut down AWA in 1991. He was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006, with Vince McMahon acknowledging Gagne’s contributions to the wrestling business — even though the two were direct competitors the the former putting the latter out of business.

By 2009, Gagne was living in an assisted living facility. Suffering from Alzheimer’s, Gagne had gotten into a scuffle with his 97-year-old roommate, with the victim’s widow claiming Gagne had body slammed the man to the ground like a professional wrestler. Both men claimed to have no memory of the incident, and the injured man died days later due to complications his treatment. Gagne was not criminally charged due to his dementia, and he later died in 2015 at the age of 89.

Many of today’s younger wrestling fans might not know the story of Terry Wayne Allen, known to wrestling fans of years gone by as rising star Magnum T.A. Competing in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Allen took on the moniker of “Magnum T.A.” based on his physical resemblance to Magnum P.I. actor Tom Selleck. It may not be the most original gimmick, but the character did make Allen very popular with the crowd at the time.

After joining Jim Crockett Promotions, Allen had notable feuds with other major stars from the era like Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Kamala, and Nikita Koloff. Following a run as the promotion’s United States champion, Magnum T.A. had become one of the company’s top stars. Odds are, had Allen been able to continue wrestling, he would have become that company’s World Champion before long, and a run in WWE seems all but inevitable.

Sadly, Allen was involved in a car accident in 1986 when his vehicle lost control in the rain. Investigators determined that Allen had been driving the speed limit and alcohol was not a factor in the crash. The accident caused a severe back injury, leaving the right side of Allen’s body paralyzed for months and effectively ending his career. In the years since, Allen had made sporadic appearances in the wrestling business, finally debuting in WWE in 2007 at an event where he was acknowledged as a former United States champion.

Viva la raza!

Anyone who was watching wrestling in the late ’90s and early 2000s won’t need an introduction for Eddie Guerrero. Coming from the famous Guerrero wrestling family, Eddie was known to wrestling fans worldwide as one of the most talented performers in the world. In addition to his incredible work in the ring, Guerrero was also downright charming, making him one of WWE’s most entertaining performers in or out of the ring.

As with countless others, Guerrero had struggled with personal demons during the course of his career. In his autobiography, the wrestler had opened up about his alcohol and substance abuse problems, leading to his firing from WWE in 2001. With the help of his wife and others close to him, Guerrero managed to overcome his demons to adopt a life of sobriety, returning to WWE to win the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar in 2004. The closing moments of that year’s WrestleMania saw Eddie come to the ring with his own title to celebrate Chris Benoit’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event that night.

Less than two years later, Guerrero was found unresponsive in his hotel room and was pronounced dead soon after. The cause of death was attributed to cardiovascular disease, and although he had cleaned up his life, it’s speculated that prior drug abuse may have contributed to his death. Guerrero’s shocking passing is also believed to have been a major factor in his best friend Chris Benoit snapping soon after.

In any case, had we not lost Eddie in 2005, the wrestling world would look very, very different.

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